The Art of VISMOD

VISMOD  noun:  1.  a military acronym for a vehicle that has been visually modified to serve as a surrogate for a foreign tank or other type of AFV, usually for use in force on force field training exercises.   2.  any vehicle modified to look like another vehicle.  3.  an acronym for Vision and Modeling, a field of scientific research that has nothing to do with dressing up surplus American M113s as Russian BMP like armored personal carriers (APC)s.

The U.S. ARMY PEO STRI  (Program Executive Office for Simulation, Training, and Instrumentation) managed the conversion of several hundred M113s to serve as VISMODs at training centers in the US and Europe.  These vehicles replaced a fleet of aging Opposition Force (OPFOR) M551 Sheridan Tanks and they are used to take the place of Russian BMPs and main battle tanks (MBT) in field training exercises. Officially these vehicles are called Opposing Forces Surrogate Training Systems (OSTS). A detailed project description, vehicle specification, photo gallery and document library for the BMP OSTS conversions can found at the following:  "BMP" OSTS.  Pictures of the MBT OSTS can be found on a PEO STRI page documenting the fielding of the new MBT OSTS at the Combat Maneuver Training Center in Hohenfels, Germany.  Pictures of these M113 based VISMODs in operation at the US Army Ft. Irwin, National Training Center (NTC)  can be found on Scott Cunningham's Armor in Action website: NTC VISMODs.